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Absolute scenes as Millwall come from behind to beat and leapfrog Middlesbrough into 2nd

There were absolute scenes as Millwall come from behind to beat and leapfrog Middlesbrough into 2nd in the race for automatic promotion.

Dael Fry’s 26th minute opener put Boro five points clear of Ipswich in third and Millwall in fourth. But Millwall fought back to keep themselves in contention for the automatic promotion spots, when a corner came in, Mihailo Ivanovic kept the ball alive before former Boro striker Josh Coburn produced a volley, with it just trickling over the line after Sol Brynn got a hand on it but it just trickles over the line.

Come half time, Boro were better side with their one-goal lead, who also could have got a hat-trick after coming close two other good chances.

After an initial lack of response from Millwall since going one down, momentum started to build and they got their equaliser.

Millwall continued to put pressure in the second half, having more of the ball and created a number of promising chances.

The away side then went ahead thanks to Josh Coburn on 86 minutes, a lovely finish after Barry Bannan played the ball out to him wide on the left, he makes his way inside Luke Ayling, then curled a shot into the bottom corner.

Millwall’s Femi Azeez, per Sky Sports:Ā 

“It’s massive. Credit to the boys. That second half was unreal from us.

“We had our half-time team talk with the gaffer, we knew what to do in the second half and we executed it really well.

“We came out with a bit more confidence, nothing to lose.”

Millwall’s Josh Coburn:

“First half we saw how good we are but second half we showed what we’re about.”

Does it make it more special against your old club? “It does a little bit. You sort of want to prove a point.

“But all that mattered to me was the three points and I’m happy to get the goals as well.”

Middlesbrough’s Kim Hellberg:

“Football is about scoring goals and we didn’t do that good enough and win games.

“It’s also the question more of what should you do – should you stop playing good football and stop creating chances? It’s what can you do?

“When you concede two you’re in big doubt of taking the three points, we didn’t do it today.

“Of course it’s concerning, we’re working every day. It doesn’t help to have all those players away that have been scoring a lot of goals for us.

“It’s a concern, absolutely without a doubt. You have to fight and work through it. That’s what we’re trying to do. That’s why the energy will be important.

“Tomorrow we go again and I’m very proud of the players, proud of the supporters. If there’s someone to blame, it’s me.”

Millwall boss Alex Neil:Ā 

“We’ll see over the next six games how big a win it is but at the moment it feels like a huge win.

“They are a really good side. Really well coached. First half we couldn’t really live with them.

“We had a chat at half-time. We needed to get the press a bit better. We needed to make sure we kept it in front of us a little bit more. When we did have it – that was our biggest issue. We kept giving the ball back to them.

“Second half we moved the ball better, the game slowed down in pace. Our goal then changed our belief.

“You couldn’t have scripted it with Coburn coming back to his old side.”

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Here’s the social media reaction to absolute scenes as Millwall come from behind to beat and leapfrog Middlesbrough into 2nd…

@DGabrielliSmith: Millwall in the Prem will be class tbf.

@salbre81: This Mid v Millwall game has been great

@lukestanley03: Insane ending in this Boro Millwall game. Coventry all but up now. Would like to see Millwall do it as well.

@JohnSwindells52: What a job Alex Neil is doing at #Millwall. More players should celebrate scoring a goal against their old club like #Coburn did. Scoring a goal must be a huge high don’t get why you should not celebrate against a club you left.

@KLC_MFC: What a lad. None of this refusing to celebrate BS. He has completely changed fans perception of him. #millwall

@SteveMcKenna_: What a win for Millwall and with an origin story for their striker too. Smashing

@SibsMUFC: Millwall in the automatic promotion spots šŸ˜² hope they stay there, would be great to have them in the Premier League even if they went straight back down.

@FChungSport: Proper second half performance from Millwall. Josh Coburn was immense especially in the second half and they defended so well #MFC

@JoelHarrison28: Bottled it again, Hellberg too slow to change it again and Millwall did a job over us in the 2nd half and finally this squad is far too arrogant and donā€™t have the mentality to get promoted.

@jewkesyno4: Fair play Millwall. Nowhere near good enough first half, and then a bit like their game at Ipswich away, they turned up second half.

@play_dj: Neil again tweaked it like he did at Ipswich but has gone 1 better. Unbelievable manager and team we have. Bannan changed the game when he came on. Coburn MOTM! #Millwall

@DougieSpen: Big result for Millwall, certainly changes the landscape at the top of the championship.

@mar_boro14: 30,000 fans gave the team absolutely everything. No excuses to lose that game from where we were at HT. Credit to Millwall, theyā€™re now the favourites for me. Itā€™ll take some turnaround in form for Boro to get top 2 now. We canā€™t hack the pressure. Chucked it.

@TypicalBoroPod: Sucker punch to Boroā€™s automatic promotion hopes as Millwall jump into the top 2 thanks to a Josh Coburn brace šŸ™ƒ Dare we ask for any thoughts/questions for the podā€¦ šŸ«£ #UTB

@tagz96CCFC: Think I said out of Ipswich that Millwall would be the pest of the group and now it shows. Millwall are just there. Thankfully weā€™ve created the gap when mattered for both Boro and Millwall to have to be perfect to catch. Letā€™s make it impossible to catch #pusb

@gmike27: Hellberg out!! Really?? Give your heads a wobble! NGL today hurts, we all knew the 2nd half was gonna be very different, Millwall were clinical, we weren’t end of! It’s only a point between us so still possible but gonna be very hard to keep believing that! But this is Boro #boro

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